Recommendations
The Netflix recommendation algorithm provides the user with personalized suggestions while also highlighting the content that is generally popular across the platform. Thus, they produced categories such as “we think you’ll love these” and ones associated with genres that you have watched or added to a watch list. On the flip side, they also have carousels for the top ten movies and shows of the day as well as sections for content new to the platform or content leaving soon. By providing the user with such a large amount of options, engagement time is increased by the user taking time to comb through the seemingly endless choices. This time is increased by automatically playing trailers when the user is paused on a card for a few seconds.
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The main way Youtube pushes content requires a search from the user, and from then on, relies on recommendation algorithms to keep you watching related videos for as long as possible. Dissimilar from Netflix, Youtube is plagued with countless ads, with an increasing number of ones that are unskippable. This is because Youtube wants to hold your attention for as long as possible as the videos watched by users are a vessel for advertisement placement. Thus, they push for as many videos as possible.
Conversion
Airbnb also has a recommendation algorithm, however, that is not the main way in which they push content. This platform does not care about how long you remain on the site nor do they rely on advertisements. The goal is to have customers book reservations, and that is very apparent through their emphasis on filter based searching. By allowing users to filter practically every aspect of their potential stay, the probability that they find something they are content with and consequently book a reservation increases.
